When the leaves are gently swaying in the breeze, the air is filled with a moist smell, which indicates that Qingming is coming again. On this day, people in the city return to their hometowns one after another, sweep the tombs to worship their ancestors, and remember their ancestors.
However, before the lights of thousands of homes this year, several news of "rural graves again" spread rapidly on the Internet.
"Do you really want to level the grave? Then how can I worship my grandparents when I go home during the Qingming Festival!" Netizen Li Dashan commented anxiously. He shares similar questions with many people in the village who plan to return to their hometowns.
Some of them sweep the graves of their parents, and some worship their grandparents.
"Where did this rumor come from? Could it be that the funeral reform was carried out and then spread?"
"Could it be that the cemetery is full, and we have to rush to level the graves of our ancestors and move them to high-end cemeteries?"
Various speculations are also spread among the villagers, but the truth does not seem to be true. This is just a misreading of the funeral reform policy, but it has caused panic and worry among many villagers.
The root cause of this is that villagers have little information about the reforms, and the uncertainty of policy progress is also suspicious.
Funeral reform is a gradual process, and it is worth our patience; At the same time, it is also necessary for the relevant government departments to strengthen publicity, explain policies, dispel the doubts of villagers, and avoid the rumors of leveling graves again from intensifying, which will spoil people's mood during the Qingming Festival.
At present, the focus of China's funeral reform is to guide rather than coercion, and adapt measures to local conditions rather than one-size-fits-all.
Taking my hometown of Bengbu, Anhui Province, as an example, the county issued a document on funeral reform last year. The focus is on cremating 70% of the city's remains by 2025.
At the same time, in some natural villages, the burial was changed to tree burial or flower burial.
And the old countryside where my grandmother lives has not moved for the time being. Mura Xiaoer said that the terrain there is low, and the first thing to do is to solve the problem of drainage, strive to build a columbarium within two years, and then phase out burials.
"It depends on the wishes of the people, and no one wants to dig up the graves of their ancestors and put them in the urn. Mura Xiaoer said.
In a county in the northeast, they set up a cemetery and stipulated that they should not excavate for 100 years, so as to slowly dilute the traditional concept of graves. Referring to international experience, the annual grave disappearance rate is controlled at about 3%.
It can be seen that the focus of funeral reform is to guide, and the pace of progress is adapted to local conditions. As scholar Yao Zhongqiu has shown, we oppose the imposition and sudden bulldozing of the graves of our ancestors.
The transformation of funeral culture takes time, understanding and respect.
When I returned to my hometown after a few years of absence, what I saw along the way was very different. As I walked on my homeland, I remembered the fields where I played when I was a child, with towering green pines and white green energy installations.
The dense graves along the stream at the entrance of the village are gone, replaced by plastic running tracks and fitness facilities. I asked the village chief what had become of the place, and he explained that it had been designated as a scenic tourist area.
"The national funeral reform says that the graves in the six districts along the three lines cannot be left, and this stream is clearly written. The village chief said, "So our village simply changed the burial, so that we could go to the new cemetery in the order of the ancestors."
Similar changes are taking place along railway lines and along rivers. These areas are inherently fragile and are related to major transportation routes, so it is imperative to clean them up intensively. In a county in Zhejiang, for example, 2,145 mass graves were removed from the county's Sanhe River basin this year.
Of course, we have also seen that this action has a great impact on traditional concepts and is an emotional trauma for the older generation. Therefore, some scholars have called for slow guidance in the reform and caring for the feelings of the people.
This is the "humanization" in the process of advancement.
The reform of the funeral system involves a wide range of interests and complex interests, and all parties need to work together to promote it.
As policymakers, it is the responsibility of the relevant departments to introduce reform plans that are in line with the local economic development level and cultural traditions. This requires government workers to go down to the grassroots level to conduct detailed investigations, listen to public opinions, and put themselves in the shoes of the people.
Villagers, as recipients of reforms, should also take the initiative to understand the national policy and cooperate with it. For example, cleaning up the graves that are indiscriminately buried in the six districts along the three routes and allowing the ashes of the ancestors to enter the cemetery hall is a beneficial measure for the environment and development.
Of course, emotional issues also need to be cared for. After all, the reform is the ashes of the older generation, and in the process of advancing, the government must appease the people, patiently explain, understand traditions, and guide the gradual modernization of Xi customs.
Only when the government and the people work together can the funeral reform come as scheduled and make the countryside full of vitality and vitality.
The direction of funeral reform is correct, which represents the progress of civilization in China's rural areas. However, reform should also focus on humanistic care in the process of advancement.
In the past, the village was buried indiscriminately, and the environment was dirty and messy, which was not conducive to the construction of beautiful villages, but also affected development. After the reform, the cemetery was in order, and the village looked new.
These are all comforting. However, we also need to understand the people's attachment to tradition, which cannot be broken overnight. For example, the 90-year-old grandparents in the village, their ancestors were buried in the ancestral cemetery for five generations, and this feeling can be imagined.
Therefore, while promoting reform, the government and business leaders should pay attention to the people's sentiment, understand this kind of reluctance, guide patiently, and make a slow transition, rather than simply and rudely bulldozing the old graves.
Humanity is a part of modern civilization. Only in this way can the new Xi truly take root in the hearts of the people and let the people accept the fruits of reform with peace of mind. It will also be a tribute to the ancestors.